Anna Campbell
Anna Montgomery Campbell, also known as Hêlîn Qereçox, was a British feminist, anarchist and prison abolition activist who fought with the Women's Protection Units in Rojava during the Syrian civil war.
Campbell was born in Lewes, East Sussex, England, the daughter of progressive rock musician Dirk Campbell. She was educated at the independent St Mary's Hall, Brighton, then went to study at University of Sheffield before moving to Bristol, where she worked as a plumber. Campbell was involved with many political movements, including the 2010 United Kingdom student protests, the Hunt Saboteurs Association, Anarchist Black Cross and other anarchist and abolitionist organisations.
Campbell fought with the YPJ in their attack on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant stronghold in Deir ez-Zor. She was also involved in the YPJ's activities in support of women's rights in Kurdistan. According to The New York Times, she was moved by the defence of "an autonomous, mostly Kurdish region in northern Syria, known as Rojava, whose leaders advocate a secular, democratic and egalitarian politics, with equal rights for women".
Campbell was killed by a Turkish Armed Forces missile strike during the Turkish military operation in the Afrin Canton, Operation Olive Branch. The YPJ announced:
She is the only British woman to die fighting for the YPJ.
Following the announcement of Campbell's death, her father started a campaign to recover her body, which could not be located by aid organisations until a ceasefire was in place in the area. Dirk Campbell accused the British government of 'a total lack of proactivity' in helping to recover her body, which is yet to be recovered from the battlefield as of 2019.
In response to Campbell's death, protesters from the Bristol Kurdish Solidarity Network and friends of Campbell blocked the offices of BAE Systems in Bristol. Activists accuse the company of supplying weapons to Turkey which have been used against civilians in Rojava.
